And way to go! You can't NEVER beat free! I just LOVE free stuff! Working or not! I've got quite a bit of good free stuff over the years. Even my Elite 80 was free.

I'm actually building a 2nd home theater down yonder in my garage out of mostly free stuff! God a big HD DLP TV between 50 and 80 inches, a free entertainment center, a free refrigerator, free big comfy couch, free surround sound system, etc! Building one upstairs too in my BR for under $1,000 including a awsome deal on a factory refirbished HD projector!

I bought a brand-new. red '79 Pinto with the savings from my first job. I was a busboy, and I was fifteen and a half years old. When I started the job, I was paid $1.85 and hour, but within a couple of months the minimum wage increased to $3.35. Still, at that rate it took me a long time to save up the $475 that J.C. Penny was asking for the bike.

When I finally had the money saved, my nineteen year-old brother took me up to the mall in the family's spare car, a 1974 Caprice Classic with a 400 c.i.d. engine. We put the moped (still in it's cardboard box) in the cavernous trunk and drove it home. As we were assembling the moped in the driveway my Mom pulled up, and boy was she pissed.

Anyhow, I drove that moped rain or shine for the next year or so, and two of my teenaged buddies also bought mopeds - one a Motobecane, and the other a Bianchi, I believe. We formed a "gang", and called ourselves The Mad, Muscular, Mustashioed Moped Men. (when you're 15, you are quite proud of your recently emerged facial hair)

We had a blast that year, and those times formed the foundation of the love of two-wheeling that I still have to this day.

I know about them. I have owned about 20 mopeds, including a Pinto. I just love the style of the Pinto frame. Basically the frame was built by Kromag, and the E50 engine is Puch. It is the single speed version. I currently own a 1977 Puch MaxiSport, with the ZA50 2 speed 2 HP engine. I also have a like new E50 engine with 300 miles on it for a replacement if the ZA50 ever blows up. The E50 is a piece of cake to rebuild, the ZA50 can be a real pain because of it's complexity and exacting tolerances. There are tons of Puch parts on eBay, there are also a lot of other places to buy new and used Puch parts (1977 mopeds, Moped Warehouse, Treats, Moped Junkyard, and several more) and Moped Army is the best place to go for information, if you can put up with their somewhat childish behavior.

mix the gas 40:1 (stock says 50:1, but 40:1 with a halfway decent oil is better.

for spark plugs, don't run the b5hs that it says, they like to run the best on a b7hs if its moderate weather, or b6hs if its a colder climate.....

make sure it has an air filter. it should be shaped like a big cigar. if you take it off and split it in half in the middle where it comes apart there is a metal screen filter in there, they can rust up and plug. if its all rusty, go to your mom's/wives pantyhose drawer and put about 4 passes of pantyhose on the split in the airbox and snap it back together.

lots of times the horns are corroded, and some years they ground the ignition thru the horn circuit. if when running the bike, the horn is on, or for some reason you dont have spark, try plugging the horn wires together.

That Puch Maxi N rigid looks sweet. Love those bars. seems like most people put little tiny seats and clipon or clubman bars that aren't much higher than the front axle on them, trying to make a cafe racer or something. Might look cool, but almost completely unrideable. My Maxi has the stock bars, and the long style seat. It came with the bicycle seat, and I converted it. Had to give up the luggage rack, but comfort above all else is my motto.

seems like most people put little tiny seats and clipon or clubman bars that aren't much higher than the front axle on them, trying to make a cafe racer or something. Might look cool, but almost completely unrideable. .

It's those limber kids do that, Jerry; us old farts with the frozen joints and bad backs can only dream.

Doggone mopeds, even the current Tomos line which seems to use materials not quite as good as the 'peds of yesteryear, have some kind of irresistable smokey, buzzing appeal that won't be denied. Aftermarket pipes, new sprockets, improved intake and little 65-70cc kits won't break the bank; then ya got somethin'.

This one was given to me as well. I'm gathering parts to restore it and have about everything I need. Now that Villageidiot has explained to just use panty hose for a filter I'll go ahead and buy an airbox. Those filter screens must be non existant, I see a lot of air boxes for sale but none have the screen or the damper tube. I guess you might have to rejet with that setup? It is VERY hard not to start case matching, big jug, cdi and all of that, but I'm just going to try to get it box stock except for the crank, I just don't trust a con rod with a brass bushing instead of a bearing. I will probably be PMing you guys if I run into problems, there is no way I'm going to endure the (very knowledgeable) kids at mopedarmy.

This one was given to me as well. I'm gathering parts to restore it and have about everything I need. Now that Villageidiot has explained to just use panty hose for a filter I'll go ahead and buy an airbox. Those filter screens must be non existant, I see a lot of air boxes for sale but none have the screen or the damper tube. I guess you might have to rejet with that setup? It is VERY hard not to start case matching, big jug, cdi and all of that, but I'm just going to try to get it box stock except for the crank, I just don't trust a con rod with a brass bushing instead of a bearing. I will probably be PMing you guys if I run into problems, there is no way I'm going to endure the (very knowledgeable) kids at mopedarmy.

if you want box stock parts, call shaun at myrons mopeds. he would have the filter screen im almost certain. the pinto airbox, if i remember correctly (i dont do stock mopeds much) does not have a damper tube.

it should look like this

you see where the bump in the middle is, it comes apart there. thats where the screen goes, or the pantyhose trick goes. of course, with the panty hose it may require a jet change.

as for the connecting rod with a bushing, ive spun em up to 13k rpm without failure, but its all in how ya prep it....... if a bushing is in good shape (no slop) id just run it. also the crank bearings, if the original steyr bearings are good, stick em back on with a little green locktite (bearing mount) there is no better bearing, my NOS stash of bearings went dry in 2008 and i have never replaced more crank bearings since. but i did have enough bearings for 75 motors.

That Puch Maxi N rigid looks sweet. Love those bars. seems like most people put little tiny seats and clipon or clubman bars that aren't much higher than the front axle on them, trying to make a cafe racer or something. Might look cool, but almost completely unrideable. My Maxi has the stock bars, and the long style seat. It came with the bicycle seat, and I converted it. Had to give up the luggage rack, but comfort above all else is my motto.

i like comfort, but i also like the little bit higher bar too

the kids that put the drop bars n such are fine, but at 6'2 and 300 lbs......... its a loser situation for my lower back.

Yeah, Moped Army, well....... There is a branch of the MA around here called the Tom Cruisers. For a more mature moped site, try mopedriders.org.

Many places have parts for Puch mopeds, but the Pinto mostly has a Puch engine. I have gotten a lot of parts for my Maxi from themopedjunkyard.com. It's run by a guy named Dave, and he's pretty cool. Myrons is good, 1977 Mopeds is owned by a member of the Moped Army named Dan Kastner, who along with Simon King, started the Moped Army back in 1997. I got involved with them in about '02. You can find my posts, all 5000+ of them, under "JunkyardDog". If you think the place is bad now, you should have seen it several years ago. It got so bad I finally left. It has improved considerably since then, but I've moved on to other things. I once had my yard and shed full of mopeds and moped parts, now I'm down to just the one Puch. You might also contact a guy called MoPedLar, who still collects mopeds and parts. He is on both MA and mopedriders.org.

IMO, the Pinto is one of the nicest looking mopeds ever made. Parts for them are out there. JC Penny also sold a moped called a Swinger, and some of the parts from it are the same as the Pinto.